News

George Zimmerman acquitted of Trayvon Martin’s murder

George Zimmerman smiles after a not guilty verdict was handed down in his trial

A
Neighbourhood Watch volunteer has been acquitted of the murder of a Florida
teenager who he shot after wrongly assuming that the boy was “up to no
good”, 15 months after a national outpouring of anger forced the state to
prosecute.

George Zimmerman, 29, a mortgage underwriter with an amateur interest in law
enforcement who prosecutors derided as a “wannabe cop”, was found not guilty
by six female jurors in Sanford, Florida. The jury took over 16 hours to
reach their verdict after hearing three weeks of evidence from 56 witnesses
about the death of Trayvon Martin, 17.

Mr Zimmerman, 29, who has lived in hiding since the February 26, 2012
incident, other than a brief period in custody, had sat pensively as jurors
filed in to deliver their verdict. He smiled only slightly and turned to
shake hands with his attorneys. His wife Shellie wept. His parents embraced
the